It is becoming increasingly common to transfer small amounts of data between computing devices in different circumstances. For example, two people meeting for the first time may wish to exchange information comprising the URL's of their web pages, email addresses or other contact information. In other examples there may be a need to broadcast information to a large number of people, for example; in shops, at concerts and sporting events.
Current methods of transferring data, for example Near Field Communication (NFC) are not universally implemented and may also be unsuitable for broadcasting data to large numbers of users. Current methods of transferring data may also require that devices are paired or undergo complex handshaking or mutual recognition before data can be transferred. Pairing devices can take time and may be off-putting to users when only a small amount of data is to be transferred. The pairing process is also not always successful.
The embodiments described below are not limited to implementations which solve any or all of the disadvantages of known data transfer systems.